Design of Bamboo Shelter Kit for Post-disaster Temporary Shelter Response

Shelter aid is an integral part of humanitarian aid in post-disaster situations. The built environment is the most affected sector in the rapidly increasing events of natural and man-made disasters. In these scenarios, sustainable design solutions need to address the loss of habitat and displacement. North-eastern part of India is very vulnerable to natural disasters primarily flood, earthquake and landslide, and annually, over a lakh of people are displaced. People in the rural areas in this region reside in bamboo houses. Recent explorations of bamboo as a material in contemporary architecture suggest an environmental stratagem towards achieving sustainability in the built environment. While, ecological considerations, social and cultural impact establishes the need for a form of architecture that is flexible, lightweight in construction. This study looks into the lifecycle of post-disaster emergency shelters with an ecological perspective to determine the critical aspects of design, material sourcing, manufacturing, delivery and disposal in an environmental friendly way possible. Further, this study attempts to design a post-disaster temporary shelter kit to establish the crucial characteristics of bamboo architecture that make it successful. The design decisions based on bamboo elements with partial prefabricated and portable components show that mobile bamboo buildings are feasible and can fulfil many different roles and are economically viable to build and operate in post-disaster situations. The study concludes with a recommendation for further iterations of the shelter kit towards sustainable reconstruction in post-disaster situations.